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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131530">Granite</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zai42/pseuds/Zai42'>Zai42</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>October 2020 [21]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>174 spoilers, Anal Fingering, Multi, Necrophilia, Other, Resurrection, Ritual Sex</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:42:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27131530</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zai42/pseuds/Zai42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There is hope.<br/>Prompt: Necrophilia</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom/Commander James Barnes/Howard Carter (Rusty Quill Gaming)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>October 2020 [21]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946893</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>A Wilde Ride October Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Granite</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> Zolf had gone with Wilde. The kobolds were with their own, and Skraak had not been unkind when he had told Hamid to stay behind.</p>
<p> And now Cel and Barnes were here.</p>
<p> The tent was small and cozy, a fire crackling merrily in the center, the fragrant smoke it gave off going to Cel’s head. It reminded them of their lab back in the village. They wondered, not for the first time, what might have happened if they had stayed there. If the others -</p>
<p> They shook their head like it would dislodge the guilt there and glanced forlornly at the -</p>
<p> At <em>Carter. </em></p>
<p> Sohra had laid him out by the fire, cut away his bloodied clothes and cleaned his injuries, dressing them with herbs and flowers. The scent of them, and the heady smoke of the fire, covered the reek of blood, but didn’t manage to hide it completely. She had left his eyes open, and they stared, empty as the sky. Barnes, still as granite and twice as cold, watched as Sohra painted Carter’s blue lips with crushed berries, sweet and red and bright.</p>
<p> Cel let out a shuddering sigh and sat beside Barnes. He glanced at them from the corner of his eye, then reached out and took their hand in his. His fingers were warm. Not surprising, considering the heat of the fire, but Cel clung to that. He was warm.</p>
<p> Sohra put aside her berries, picked up a bowl of oil, and gestured placidly for Cel and Barnes to come forward. “He is ready,” she said, handing the oil off to Cel. It, like the smoke and the plants, was heavily fragrant. “Are you?”</p>
<p> Cel swallowed. Beside them, Barnes nodded curtly. “Yes.”</p>
<p> Sohra nodded. “Very well. Then you will call him back to you. You understand what you must do?”</p>
<p> Cel understood. They’d had to translate it to the others; the look in Zolf’s eyes, that grim determination, sat with them still. “We do,” they croaked. “Is there - is there anything - s-specific, or - or special - ”</p>
<p> Sohra laid a hand over Cel’s and smiled gently; she was already used to Cel’s babbling, and took it in stride, with an unwavering calm. “The magic is woven,” she said. “Pull it tight.”</p>
<p> Cel let out a slow breath. “Okay,” they said. “Okay, we can - we can do that.”</p>
<p> “Then I will give you privacy,” Sohra said, patted Cel’s hand once, and slipped from the tent.</p>
<p> Silence fell, but for the snaps from the fire. Cel couldn’t make themselves look up from the oil in their hands, staring into it, trying to determine what it could be derived from. It smelled familiar.</p>
<p> Barnes eased the bowl from their hands. “You don’t have to - ”</p>
<p> “I do,” Cel said firmly. “I will. I said I would.”</p>
<p> Barnes nods once. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s, then.”</p>
<p> There was a notable difference between living and dead flesh, even if it had only been dead a few hours. Carter was not quite cold beneath Cel’s palms as they cupped his jaw and bent to kiss him. His lips tasted of berries and, beneath that, like the metal tang of blood. With a shaking hand, they eased his mouth open to dip their tongue inside. He wasn’t cold, really - the fire warmed him well enough - just...ambient. No blood-heat, no breath warm on their lips.</p>
<p> They stretched out alongside Carter, running their hands along his jaw, down the slope of his neck, across the wings of his collarbone. They wondered what it would be like, if he were alive; if he would be the type to laugh during sex, if he would be as thrilled as Cel imagined to be the center theirs and Barnes’ combined attention. Instead he lay motionless in their arms, and they leaned in to pepper kisses along his jawline.</p>
<p> They felt Barnes shift him, gently, wrapping Carter’s gangling legs around his waist. He dipped his fingers into the oil, glanced up to meet Cel’s eyes, then looked quickly away again. Cel couldn’t see from their vantage point, but they could guess at what his hand was doing. Barnes exhaled slowly. “This is - ”</p>
<p> His voice was startlingly loud in the quiet. He cleared his throat and spoke again, more quietly. “This is strange,” he said. “Kind of figured you’d be more squirmy.”</p>
<p> Cel breathed out a laugh. “I bet he is,” they said. They walked their fingers down his chest, tugging lightly at his dusting of hair. “And loud.”</p>
<p> A flicker of a smile crossed over Barnes’ face, just for a moment. “Always loud,” he said. He twisted his wrist, pushed deeper. “Bossy, you think?”</p>
<p> Cel curled a hand around Carter’s cock, soft and tender in their palm. “No,” they said. They nuzzled closer to him, closed their eye. Like this they could almost imagine the warmth from the fire was his; that all they could smell were flowers and herbs, without the undertones of blood. “He wouldn’t have it in him to be bossy.”</p>
<p> Cel felt Barnes lace the fingers of his free hand with theirs, pulling gently at Carter’s prick. “No,” he agreed. “Probably as much of a brat in bed as out.”</p>
<p> Cel let out another weak laugh at that, opening their eyes, only a little surprised to find their vision blurred with tears. “Yeah,” they said. “Yeah, I bet you’re right.”</p>
<p> They tilted Carter’s face towards them again and kissed him, smiling miserably against his unresponsive lips. “Please,” they whispered. “Please come back. Please let me fix this.”</p>
<p> Barnes’ hand laced into their hair, pulled them gently up to press a kiss to their lips. “This will work,” he breathed, and laid them both down again, on either side of Carter, one arm curled around him and Cel. “This will work.”</p>
<p> Cel swiped their thumb over the berry stain they’d left on Barnes’ mouth, then nuzzled close to Carter, their hands roaming over his body, dipping between his legs to trace where Barnes was still fucking into him with his hand, moving in careful, probing thrusts.</p>
<p> There would come a point, Cel thought, likely when the incense in the fire burned off, that this would feel less like a ritual and more like desecrating a corpse. They giggled wildly, or maybe sobbed, and buried their face in Carter’s shoulder.</p>
<p> It twitched beneath them.</p>
<p> They gasped, both hands flying to cradle Carter’s face between their palms, their eyes flicking rapidly from Barnes’ face to Carter’s and back. “He moved,” they stammered. “He - keep doing - I swear, he moved, he - ”</p>
<p> Carter’s hips jerked; a faint sound wheezed out of him, weak and failing. Cel, frantic, pulled him close and kissed him, a proper Campbell kiss, and felt a hand come up to rest in the small of their back. When they pulled back, Carter’s eyes had focused on them, no longer empty, but fuzzy, dazed. He smiled blearily, then made a surprised sound when Barnes jerked him close to kiss him as well.</p>
<p> Cel laughed properly now, collapsing against Carter’s side, hugging him tight, shoving one hand between his legs to feel him growing hard and hot with blood. He squirmed and mumbled into Barnes’ mouth. “Mmm - missed...something?” he said muzzily, then whined as Cel pushed a finger into him.</p>
<p> “We’ll tell you later,” Barnes muttered, resting his forehead against Carter’s.</p>
<p> “I’m very confused,” Carter said, but tipped his head back, practically glowing in the firelight, the blush of blood slowly returning to his skin. “But feel free to continue.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>That is NOT in the Player's Handbook</p></blockquote></div></div>
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